Fire station renovations nearing completion
Project intended to ease access, alleviate flooding
A refurbished entrance to the central Leominster Fire-Rescue Department building is scheduled to be completed next month, providing both the public and department staff with easier access to the building, Chief Robert Sideleau II said.
The project, which is already underway, will replace an old deck with a small entry room, as well as provide firefighters with improved access to the station’s basement. The addition will also provide an area for the department to display a recently refurbished 150-year-old hand tub, Sideleau said.
The expansion, according to the chief, is anticipated to solve several logistical problems with the building’s rear and lower level.
“We were going to redo the deck and keep everything the same way but for some reason, we’ve been hit with some flooding down there,” Sideleau said of the basement, which houses the locker room and is used for storage.
Previously, Sideleau said, the back entrance to the department included a ramp that led directly into the station’s basement.
But in recent years, the entrance was too small for most trucks to enter, and at the same time, it became a passageway for water, instead.
“What we have done in the last 20
years is restore all of our fire coats down there, and a lot of expensive equipment that we never had in years past,” Sideleau said.
For this reason, basement flooding posed a particularly large problem, he said.
“We’re not sure if it’s because the climate has changed a little or because downtown keeps getting built up,” Sideleau said of the flooding issue.
The department ultimately decided that the best course of action would include filling in the driveway, eliminating the deck and building an updated entrance to the building. Once construction is complete, there will be a streetlevel back entrance into the station, as well as stairs that lead directly into the basement, where all firefighters report to at the beginning and end of their shifts.
This way, Sideleau said, the public will be able to park behind the building and enter through a designated entryway rather than walking into the carport in the front, and firefighters will not have to waste time walking around the station’s main floor when they report for work.
The project has been in the works for about two years, Sideleau said, and will cost $302,000.
Both Sideleau and Mayor Dean Mazzarella said on Tuesday that the city saved money by having much of the work done in-house, through the Department of Public Works and other Leominster employees.
“Anything they could do internally, they did,” Mazzarella said.
The central Leominster fire station was built in the late 19th century and is designated as a historical landmark.
The deck in the rear of the building was built in the 1950s, according to Sideleau.
The changes, he said, are expected to improve the overall flow of foot traffic around the station.